Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with David Rabie of Tovala.com, an AI powered oven and meal kit subscription business. In this episode, David talks about raising capital for a hardware startup, going through Y Combinator, doing an Angellist Syndicate, what has changed between the Series A and Series C rounds, the Chicago startup scene, and much more. The Company most recently ...
Jun 03, 2021•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Joel Holland of HarvestHosts.com, a service that lets RV owners camp at wineries, breweries, golf courses and more. In this episode, Joel talks about how to align your interests + skillsets to create the optimal outcome, how he acquired -- not founded -- the business, including how he contacted the original owners and came up with an acquis...
Jun 02, 2021•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Lindsay Tjepkema of Casted.us, an audio and video podcast product aimed at B2B marketers. In this episode, Lindsay shares tips for leveraging podcast content, tips for distributing and measuring content, spinning Casted out of a venture studio, cultivating relationships in between rounds, successful elements of her investor pitch, next-gen ...
May 26, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Sparsh Khandelwal of StyleWork.in, a membership club to get access to coworking spaces across India and SE Asia. In this episode, Sparsh talks about raising capital for a startup based in India, how he used LinkedIn automation to message a list of investor targets, tips for getting deals done quickly, how he used Foundersuite during the pro...
May 13, 2021•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Dejan Pralica of SoleSavy.com, an online community for sneaker aficionados. In this episode, Dejan shares how he came up with the idea, the evolution of the sneakerhead community, his experience going through Jason Calacanis' LAUNCH Accelerator, raising capital from VCs like Ben Narasin and musical acts like Diplo, and more The Company rece...
May 07, 2021•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (https://foundersuite.com/), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with John Fazio of Nerd Street Gamers (https://nerdstgamers.com/), a startup creating a national network of eSports facilities, events and content. Joining John is Wayne Kimmel of 76 Capital, an early financial backer of the Company. In this episode, John and Wayne talk about the dramatic growth of eSports, his previous attempts at building...
Apr 16, 2021•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (foundersuite.com/), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Eva Goicochea of Maude (https://getmaude.com/) makers of modern sexual wellness products. In this episode, Eva talks about nurturing relationships, finding people who are seeking exactly what you do, running a well-organized fundraise, tips for doing investor updates using Foundersuite :) and much more. The Company has raised $4.3M in total. I...
Apr 09, 2021•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (https://foundersuite.com/), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Domm Holland of Fast.co, a startup that provides a one-click checkout experience for the entire internet. In this episode, Domm talks about how to build a network in Silicon Valley as an outsider, how he met his co-founder Allison Barr Allen (an exec at Uber), how to think holistically about investor relations, tips for doing strategic...
Apr 06, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (https://foundersuite.com/), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Pree Walia of Preemadonna, makers of the Nailbot.com, an at-home robotic manicure machine. In this episode, Pree talks about the challenges of raising capital for a hardware startup, her experience with the HAX Accelerator and TechCrunch Battlefield, running a Kickstarter campaign, getting on the TV show "Meet The Drapers" and more. Th...
Mar 31, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Greg Castle of Anorak.vc a seed-stage venture fund that invests in robotics, AI, virtual reality, computer vision, and other industries. In this episode, Greg talks about how he became a venture capitalist, including how he got started angel investing in companies such as Oculus, how he used SPVs to do larger deals, and how he then used that track record to r...
Mar 26, 2021•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Andrew Butt of Enable.com, a cloud-based SaaS solution for B2B rebate management. In this episode, Andrew talks about why he decided to move to Silicon Valley from the UK, tips for running a streamlined fundraising process, why time is the killer of deals, how he did outreach to CEOs to diligence the VCs he was talking with, the deal terms that were most impo...
Mar 24, 2021•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Nico Barawid of Casai.com, a startup that offers boutique, tech-enabled travel apartments in Mexico. In this episode, Nico talks about how to articulate a compelling vision that is "ambitious to the point of crazy," A16Z's services model and how it differentiates them from other VCs, how to balance equity and debt when raising capital, the importance of being...
Mar 19, 2021•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Jack Mardack of OysterHR.com, an HR platform for distributed workforces. In this episode, Jack talks about remote workforce trends and how that has changed during the pandemic, becoming a B Corp, the importance of "alignment of ambition" with VCs, how to project your mission out into the world, and more. The Company recently raised a $20 million Series A roun...
Mar 17, 2021•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Keith Richman of Boosted Commerce (https://boostedcommerce.com) a company that is acquiring successful businesses that run on Amazon and Shopify. In this episode, Keith talks about what they look for when acquiring a startup, how they add value to these companies after acquiring them, how he raised over $100M in capital for the business from a roster of high-...
Mar 12, 2021•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Eric Wu of Gainful.com, a startup delivering personalized nutrition such as protein powders and hydration products to your doorstep. In this episode, Eric talks about the importance of being at the intersection of major macro trends, treating VC meetings like "dating," tips for applying to Y Combinator, and much more. The Company most recently raised $7.5 mil...
Mar 11, 2021•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Kevin Bennett of MotoRefi.com, a startup that helps you refinance your automobile loan. In this episode, Kevin talks about the Washington DC startup scene, how "execution IS fundraising," why founders should use the fundraising process as a way to get feedback and insights on his/her business, how fundraising is more about discovery than it is about persuasio...
Mar 09, 2021•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Christine Tao of Sounding Board, an online platform that is democratizing coaching for emerging business leaders (https://www.soundingboardinc.com/). In this episode, Christine shares how she raised capital as a female, non-technical co-founder, how coaching is similar to mentoring, how she kept in touch with her investors (each of which had previously told h...
Mar 04, 2021•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Isabelle Kenyon of metabolic weight management platform Calibrate (https://www.joincalibrate.com/). In this episode, Isabelle talks about resilience and handling no's, learning from each meeting, how to use webinars to manage due diligence, how to set a timeline for investors, tips for Zoom pitching, and much more. The Company raised a $22.5M Series A round l...
Mar 02, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Adam Cohen-Aslatai of S’More (www.smoredate.com), a dating app that’s focused on helping users find more meaningful relationships In this episode, Adam talks about finding out what is unique about YOU (and pitching that to investors), how to reach out and connect on LinkedIn, how to pitch "high profile" investors such as Mark Pincus, and more. The Company rai...
Feb 26, 2021•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Bradley Davis of www.Podchaser.com, a site that curates podcasts, ratings & reviews, guest appearances, lists, and more In this episode, Bradley talks about how he posted the idea and found his co-founders (including the Company's CTO) on Reddit, how he raised a SAFE round from Kentucky angels and horse farmers, how cold calls and knocking on doors led to war...
Feb 23, 2021•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Tamara Steffens of M12.vc, which is the venture capital arm of Microsoft. In this episode, Tamara talks about some of the advantages of taking corporate venture capital (as compared to "traditional" VC), what M12 and Microsoft is looking to invest in, tips for contacting and pitching CVCs, lessons learned from being on both sides of the table, and much more. ...
Feb 19, 2021•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Maury Blackman of Premise.com, a data collections and insights platform. In this episode, Maury talks about how he raised $85 million completely virtually, how he uses the first 5-10 minutes of a pitch to establish rapport with investors, the equipment he set up for Zoom pitch meetings, how far out and how deep he drops his crab pots :) and much more. The Com...
Feb 12, 2021•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Kristin Langenfeld of Good Buy Gear (www.goodbuygear.com) a company that resells used baby and kids gear online. In this episode, Kristin talks about knowing your metrics (and which metrics in particular she focused on during the Series A), the importance of establishing core company values early on, bouncing back from layoffs and pay cuts, and much more. The...
Feb 11, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Nick Donahue of Atmos (www.buildatmos.com) a startup changing how home building is done by offering customers the ability to custom-design homes online. In this episode, Nick talks about how he built a rent calculator widget that went viral, how he got to know Sam Altman of Y Combinator playing laser tag, why he sends weekly vs. monthly investor updates, and ...
Feb 04, 2021•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Guy Elitzur of VerticalField.com, a leading ag-tech company that develops vertical growing systems for smart cities. In this episode, Guy talks about his vision for covering the world's buildings with hanging plants to feed the world, how he raised $20 million from a single family office, tips for pitching an impact fund, and much more. The Company has raised...
Jan 28, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Zuleyka Strasner of ZeroGrocery.com which offers a grocery delivery platform that provides shoppers with a convenient and plastic-free delivery service. In this episode, Zuleyka talks about how she started the business and validated the market with $2,500 from her apartment building, what it's like navigating Silicon Valley and raising capital as a Black, tra...
Jan 14, 2021•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Michael Bloch of Pillar Life (www.pillarlife.com), an online platform to store, organize, and share information with your family. In this episode, Michael talks about how he used cold emails and persistence to land his first angel investors, how he got Kleiner Perkins to lead his seed round, and how (and why) he completely pivoted his business when COVID19 hi...
Jan 06, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Brian Vallelunga of Doppler.com a platform for managing environment variables (e.g. API keys) for developers. In this episode, Brian talks about raising a pre-seed round from Kleiner while he was still working at Uber, applying to Y Combinator for the 6th or 7th time, pitching a long-term massive vision (even in the early days), resisting the temptation of in...
Dec 29, 2020•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Jonathan Siddharth of Turing.com, a platform to hire the world's best remote engineers. In this episode, Jonathan talks about how he's building the "talent cloud" of 180k global engineers, his journey from EIR at Foundation Capital to startup founder, running a serial vs. parallel fundraising process, how he plays the "long game" and cultivates relationships ...
Dec 09, 2020•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Matt Gillis of Clean.io which makes security technology that prevents "malvertising" threats. In this episode, Matt talks about what "malvertising" is, how raising capital is an emotional process, what he did differently to raise money during COVID19, how to leverage LInkedIn effectively to generate investor leads, and much more. The Company raised $5 million...
Nov 19, 2020•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
